V-Racer Hoverbike PSVR2 review – the future of racing games

WipEout and F-Zero might not have had a new entry in a very long time but this new VR racer threatens to outdo them both.

There’s a hapless but significant chunk of the population that gets motion sick when playing first person shooters, rendering the entire genre off-limits. If you’re one of those unfortunates, to play a round of Call Of Duty you’d either need to dose yourself up with Kwells or risk inadvertently redecorating the sitting room with the contents of your stomach. VR gaming is far worse, but the good news is that, unlike conventional motion sickness, it goes away with a bit of practise.

When many players discover VR, they have to play in short bursts for the first few weeks, setting the headset aside at the first sign of sweaty nausea. It’s around week two or three that you start to get your ‘VR legs’ and discover you can suddenly play as long as you like with no ill effects. For those who’ve been through that process it’s more than worth it, because VR can be a genuinely different experience from gaming on a flat screen.

That victory may be followed by mild disappointment, though, as you discover that while VR can be thrilling, very few games actually are. Resident Evil Village is one, its eerie atmosphere punctuated by terrifying monster attacks that prove far more affecting when they’re leaping directly at your face. While Alien: Rogue Incursion inspires its fair share of involuntary, terrified yelps when you turn round to find a spittle-flecked xenomoprh standing inches in front of you.

Games involving motion are a different story. The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR did its best to recreate a rollercoaster, infusing it with (very mild) horror, but part of the reason it felt so dreary was its leisurely rate of travel. Far from being a stomach-churning fairground ride its pacing was more like a toddler on their first day out of a pushchair. The good news is that V-Racer Hoverbike does not suffer from that problem.

Taking more than a few pages out of dear departed WipEout’s book, in V-Racer Hoverbike you tear round vertiginous sci-fi themed tracks with loop-the-loops and plunging drops, to the tune of pounding dance beats and while unleashing weapons at fellow riders. This is no mere copy though, and while we’ll always remember Sony’s formative franchise with great fondness, you can sense the generational leap.

That comes partly from its visuals. WipEout’s only venture into VR was on the PlayStation 4 and while a great many modern VR games look curiously blurry, V-Racer isn’t one of them, its world and bikes looking razor sharp despite the consistently high frame rate and the absurd speed you’re travelling. The even bigger upgrade comes in the form of its quasi-simulation style handling model.

Although you’re never actually in contact with the track, the techniques you use are absolutely in line with real world race driving. Following the racing line; braking early; and steering into a corner’s apex, then feeding in the power as you emerge, are key skills, as is feathering the brake and accelerator to ease your way round tricky or tightening curves.

Riding the bikes feels good, and it fortunately eschews WipEout’s momentum-sapping collisions, preferring to keep you moving at speed whenever it can, so mistakes are considerably less race wrecking. Perhaps its biggest breakthrough though, is its control method. Sure, you can use the analogue stick to steer, or opt for virtual handlebars, but its default mode proves to be a stroke of minor genius.

To turn you lean your chest left and right, as if you were riding an actual motorcycle, while keeping your head level. Although this initially feels peculiar, and fairly comical for anyone nearby not wearing a VR headset, it works seamlessly, providing exceptionally subtle control over your bike and adding to the sense of immersion, something you can increase by letting the horizon lean with you, although you’ll need veteran-grade VR legs to cope with moving that particular settings slider too far.

There’s further finesse to the racing model, this time inspired by Mario Kart. At the beginning of races you can trigger a turbo start by timing your acceleration just right, and when your bike’s energy’s lost thanks to collisions, long drops or being shot by missiles, its performance degrades along with it. You can boost it back up by consuming weapons power-ups rather than firing them, and the resultant uplift in performance is noticeable.

There’s a small roster of bikes to unlock with your race winnings and 15 tracks, which you’ll also encounter in reverse and in neon, the latter looking as though they’d been recreated in the shiny style of Disney’s Tron. However, the game’s real variety comes from the range of events you encounter, which make its four championships feel far more varied than they would in a conventional car.

Time trials and races are straightforward, while Elimination disqualifies the rider in last place at the end of each lap, and Combat pits you against five adversaries with full access to weapon power-ups. Our favourite, though, is Neon Runner, where you have to drive solo through tiny green checkpoint windows while avoiding red ones and blasting away mines that litter the course.

Multiplayer is equally accomplished, not only because races remain reasonably close for the most part (even if there are already some ludicrously skilled frontrunners) but mostly because the community seems to comprise friendly, chatty adults, with no shrieking feral school children spoiling the atmosphere. It can’t last, but while it does we heartily recommend getting involved, which you can do without needing to spring for PS Plus membership.

It may not have Gran Turismo 7’s extraordinary scale and complexity, but let’s not forget that has a day job as a flat screen game, and while WipEout had more tracks and vehicles, this has a superior handling model and, more importantly, it’s available today. There’s a livery editor for your bike, suit, and helmet – so you can show off in multiplayer – and best of all, it’s a VR game that feels thrilling to play, finally delivering on the medium’s estimable promise without resorting to cheap jump scares.

If you have any interest at all in racing games and have access to a VR headset, V-Racer Hoverbike is one of the best games of this generation.

Formats: PlayStation VR2 (reviewed), PC VR, and Meta Quest
Price: £24.49
Publisher: Impact Reality
Developer: VertexBreaker
Release Date: 4th November 2025
Age Rating: 3

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